1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a next generation mobile communication system and more particularly to a protocol on radio access standards based on Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) being developed and standarized by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI).
2. Background of the Related Art
Today, as the society is developed to a highly information oriented society, the communication network is developing to one unified radio system which can deal with all services. As a new communication field, though the mobile communication has been grown rapidly up to now, services of the mobile communication up to now are mostly for speech and are available only in restricted regions. However, it is foreseen that the future mobile communication system can transmit not only speech, but also even character, image, and multimedia information, and services of which will be made available any place in the world by means of an international perfect roaming. Particularly, since the joint development of a second generation mobile system called DCS-1800 which serves the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) at an 1800 MHz frequency band, Europe, lead by the ETSI, is under development of the UMTS.
The UMTS is a next generation mobile communication scheme developed independently based on the Code Division Tested (CODIT) and the Asynchronous Time Division Multiplexing Access (ATDMA), which are researches on the radio access standards of which UMTS is conducted as one of projects of the Research and Development in Advanced Communication Technology in Europe (RACE). Basically, the radio access standard protocol architecture suggested by the UTMS until now includes, from the bottom, a Physical Layer (PHY), a Medium Access Control Layer (MAC), a Radio Link Control Layer (RLC), a Radio Resource Control Layer (RRC), and a Higher Layer. However, those protocol layers are still being developed to be implemented in the next generation mobile communication service. That is, there have been ceaseless demand for selecting the appropriate protocol architecture which meets both the objective criterias of the radio access standards such as spectrum efficiency, range of service and power efficiency, and the subjective criteria of the radio access standards such as complexity of the system, service quality, flexibility of radio technology and network.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve at least the problems and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a radio protocol for the next generation mobile communication system and a method for managing the mobile communication system. The radio protocol includes a RLC which conducts radio link control functions according to a data transmission mode for supporting a variety of the next generation mobile communication services which will be developed in the future.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the radio protocol for a next generation mobile communication system includes a radio link control layer for connecting to an upper layer through a service access point provided in advance and for connecting to a lower layer through a plurality of logic channels also provided in advance. The radio link control layer includes at least one radio link control entity for transmission/reception of data to/from the up-link or down-link according to the form of the data transmission mode.
Preferably, the radio link control layer includes a RLC-transparent entity either for receiving a Service Data Unit (SDU) from the upper layer, dividing the SDU into a plurality of Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and providing the PDUs to the lower layer, or for receiving the plurality of PDUs from the lower layer, reassembling the PDUs into an SDU and providing the SDU to the upper layer; a RLC-unacknowledged entity either for receiving the SDU from the upper layer, conducting framing in which the SDU is divided into a plurality of PDUs wherein a header is inserted into each of the PDUs and providing the PDUs to the lower layer, or for receiving a plurality of PDUs from the lower layer, separating a header from each of the PDUs, reassembling the PDUs into the SDU depending on presence of error and providing the SDU to the upper layer; and a RLC-acknowledged entity for correcting an error in the PDU or retransmitting the PDU depending on the presence of an error in the plurality of PDUs received from the lower layer.
The radio link control layer further includes a multiplexing/demultiplexing block for multiplexing and demultiplexing the PDUs so that some of the provided radio link control entities are connected to the lower layer through the plurality of logic channels.